1950's Halloween masks, costumes, and safety

Halloween is only two weeks away, and we all know what that means! It's time for two annual Halloween traditions:

1. Figuring out what Halloween costume to wear on Halloween.

2. Figuring out how to avoid tripping, falling, getting burned, or getting poisoned on Halloween.

As a child of the 70's and 80's, my generation was particularly concerned about Halloween poisonings. We were warned to eat only candy that was sealed in wrappers.

Candy in twisty wrappers were not sealed, so we had to worry that the wrappers may have been untwisted and poisoned by an evil neighbor whom we didn't know was evil, then twisted up again and placed into our plastic pumpkin or candy bag.

I didn't know that children of the 50's had any concerns at all about Halloween safety. I always heard that back in the 50's kids could get handmade popcorn balls and unwrapped penny candy for Halloween and not worry that it had been poisoned. But, as we can see from this 1955 Halloween safety video, kids of the 50's had their own Halloween fears - what they wore could cause all sorts of danger.

So, just remember, there's a lot to be afraid of this Halloween. Sure, there are scary movies and scary masks (I think the 50's Halloween masks look the scariest!), but there is also safety to be frightened about. Scare yourself into being safe, everybody!

Thank you to wolfsonarchive for posting this 1955 Halloween safety video on YouTube!

Comments

This is an amazing video containing the making of coolest and nicest Halloween costumes during those times. I think it's pretty good and much better compared to these days Halloween costumes. - Kris Krohn Strongbrook